1. Field of the Invention
A fiber optic connector arrangement includes a locking device for fastening together a pair of male plug and female socket components, which locking device consists of locking elements mounted solely on a pair of telescopic adapter housings that support the plug and socket components when in the engaged condition. In order to increase the operational life of the connector components, one of the plug and socket components contains a recess for receiving an auxiliary second locking device that extends longitudinally in a normally non-stressed unlocked inoperative condition from the other component.
2. Description of Related Art
The present invention relates to a plug and socket connection having a first male plug-type plug connector and a second female jack-type plug connector, including the following features. The first plug connector has an outer adapter-protective housing arrangement—an adapter housing—into which a plug arrangement for connecting conductors, preferably fiber-optic connectors, is inserted. The second jack-type plug connector has an outer adapter-protective housing arrangement—an adapter housing—into which a jack arrangement is inserted, such that the two adapter housings can be coupled together, in particular can be locked together, and the jack arrangement also has locking means in the adapter housing which are designed to implement a lockable push-pull connection.
Plug connections of the generic type allow the use of the connector and jack arrangements inserted into the adapter housing even in a rough environment—e.g., in production plants or vehicles—by achieving a higher safety class, e.g., IP65 or IP67, in comparison with the safety class (usually IP20) of the internal plug-and-jack arrangement.
A first such arrangement for a telephone jack is known from the U.S. patent to Guelden (Bell Telephone Laboratories) U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,236. The idea of achieving higher demands based on environmental classifications, e.g., in the U.S. patents to Below et al U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,475,009 and 6,595,791, has been developed further. These patents describe various adapter-plug housings and adapter-jack housings, which are suitable for accommodating RJ45 plugs and/or RJ45 jacks. In this context, the German patent No. DE 102 36 275 B3 is also mentioned.
In addition, optimized solutions are also disclosed in the German patent No. DE 20 2006 011 910, and the European patent No. EP 1 848 068 A1. These documents disclose adapter housings that are suitable to receive not only plug-and-jack arrangements for connecting electric conductors, but also for plug-and-jack arrangements of another type, in particular for receiving plug-and-jack arrangements for connecting fiber-optic connectors.
However, another problem may occur here. Many plug arrangements for connecting fiber-optic connectors, such as SC plugs and jacks, are designed as so-called “push-pull” plugs which have an outer part that is displaceable by a limited distance in relation to an inner part. To release such plug arrangements, the outer housing of the plug arrangement must be displaced this defined distance in relation to the inner housing. This approach has proven successful per se. However, there is a demand for optimization with regard to the use of such SC plug connectors of a lower grade of protection, such as IP20 in adapter housings for implementation of a higher level of protection, such as IP65 or more.
According to the German published application No. DE 10 2006 000 702 A1, the push-pull connection of the ST plug-and-jack arrangement may also be released even when using an adapter housing, so it is proposed that the outer adapter housing should be designed in two parts to receive the one plug connector part, whereby the two housing parts are displaceable relative to one another by a distance that is limited by stops. The locking of the SC-RG insert and the locking of an IP20 SC-RJ plug on the IP67 side of a jack can be released via the catch engagement of the IP67 adapter housing for service purposes, but the goal is to implement a two-piece housing having self-limiting displacement, that is yet to be optimized in its handling and stability.
There have therefore already been attempts to release the lock on the SC-RJ insert. Among other things, the use of a standardized protective housing for a wide variety of copper and fiber-optic inserts has also been considered. With the approach attempted in the past, one of the two plug arrangements of a low type of protection, in particular the SC jack arrangement, remains unchanged, so that it is still possible to connect these parts without an external adapter part, e.g., for testing and service purposes, using an SC plug arrangement in the push-pull standard that is “compliant with the standard” or in accordance with the standard. This means that in the event of service on the SC jack arrangement inserted into an adapter housing constructed according to the standard IEC 874-19, a plug arrangement according to this standard can be connected without an adapter housing, in which case the parts are locked together by a catch hook, for example. This is achieved by the fact that the SC plug arrangement inserted into the respective adapter housing has a modified design inasmuch as the catch hook of the SC jack arrangement is bent outward when plugged together with the SC plug part in the adapter housing.
With the intended approach, however, it may occur that after many years of continuous use of an IPC67 plug connection, an IP20 plug can no longer be engaged for service purposes because against the background of the high temperatures in the transceiver, the SC holding clamps may be permanently deformed (disabled) due to widening and can no longer be engaged. Therefore, this problem is to be eliminated.